Kareem Rizk

Kareem Rizk had a glamorous view of what design was supposed to look like and had always wanted to work in a big studio. Qualified as a graphic designer from university he applied for many jobs and had several interviews. He did not however sell himself very well but finally did manage to secure a job at the Herald Sun. After working there for awhile he decided to start doing his own work as an artist and started venturing into doing collage work which he says he enjoys doing more than anything else. He first produced a large body of work in 2006 and slowly started shifting into doing this sort of work more. He is know recognized in been one of the best collage artist going around today.

He describes that collage work is always structural and he always works to a grid in his mind. He hardly ever relies on accidents. To produce these artistic pieces he uses torn paper, oil pastels, carbon paper and random images just to mention a few. The images he uses are generally over sixty years old, thus eliminating any copy right issues that may arise. But he takes further precautions by manipulating the images in various ways such as covering the faces with type and other images. He sources his images from old publications and never uses images of celebrities and of any publication after the 1980s. He never uses newspapers either as he explains that it doesn’t help him to establish his own unique style.

He started his work on paper as a background and decided moving onto using canvases so it helps his display them in galleries around the world. His work consists of mainly paper, cardboard and canvas. He also stains the paper for a more creative olden looking background. He will be featured at the Art Basel 2009 which is to be held in Miami Beach.

He also produces digital pieces using old paper, textures, typography, old images and transparencies. By the use of Photoshop he is able to create various textures and colours as well. He released his website in 2006 which helped his become known and established as a collage artist around the world. The website took him over three months to create since he wanted it to be a very visual site. He did a lot of self promotion and pushed his work anywhere he could to gain as much publicity as possible. This helped him in getting where he is today.

He names his work after something in the collage itself. Keeps it very simple. But at times some pieces can have quite complicated names. He says he loves using black and white images and puts in coloured backgrounds. He goes on to say that this helps the composition sit better. He sometimes designs his work digitally before proceeding to create on canvas.

He is since lately looking into having his work printed on t-shirts, mugs and shoes. He says that some of his greatest influences are artist such as Richard Hamilton, Charles Walkin, Mario Wagner and Edurado Recife. Recife was his main influence to get into collage work he added.